


Being a Friend

by gingayellow



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 02:10:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5479424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingayellow/pseuds/gingayellow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kim tries to have lunch with Pink Rangers, and offer her friendship/support. However, Shelby is a very different person than Kim was at her age. But that's okay, Kim is flexible and can build new traditions. [Spoilers for up to "Rise of a Ranger."]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Being a Friend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheSecondBatgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSecondBatgirl/gifts).



Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue.  
Notes: Written for TheSecondBatgirl. I played a little bit with the prompt, but I hope you still like the story. Spoilers for up to "Rise of a Ranger."

\--

“So,” Kim took a sip of her bottled water, “do you want to go clothes shopping?”

Shelby smiled politely. “I’m not really into clothes.”

“Okay.” Suggesting shoe shopping and/or manicures were probably a bad idea as well. “Well, I’ve got some pretty wild stories from when I was about your age. Did you know that one time Aisha and I—”

“Is this about the evil cat that turned out be a woman named Kat again?”

Kim shrugged. “It might’ve been.” 

Shelby smiled politely. Again.

As for Kim, she poked at her Bronto Burger forlornly. This had seemed like such a good idea before. Alpha had sent an email about the new team—a new team with only one girl. And Kim knew how hard it was to be a Ranger, and how she’d only gotten through her time as a Ranger because she’d always had Trini and Aisha to talk to about their fears and hopes. Kim didn’t even want to imagine what it would have been like as the only girl, at that age. She’d had some off time from the gym, so why not head to Amber Beach and have a chat with the new Pink Ranger?

Except now Kim was starting to wonder if Shelby, the new Pink Ranger, wanted to have anything to do with her at all.

What made it even more frustrating, was that this was not the first time she’d talked to some of the newer Rangers. Not every single one, of course, but she’d had lunch with Dana. She’d attended one of Rose Ortiz’s lectures. And while she wasn’t expecting the same friendship she’d had during her own tenure as a Ranger, she tried to let each of her successors know that they were not alone. She couldn’t rock the pink spandex anymore, but she could support them. She could be a friend.

Why wasn’t it working this time?

“Look, Ms. Hart,” Shelby said with a sigh.

“Kim.” She was discouraged, but she was not going to give up easily. “My friends call me Kim.”

“Kim, I really do appreciate you coming this way to talk to me, but we don’t need to be best friends forever or anything.” Shelby shrugged. “I know you and the other old Rangers are rooting for us, and that’s more than enough for me.”

Okay. That was it.

“First off, I’m still under fifty. Second… you do need a friend.” Kim sighed heavily.

Shelby gave her a look. “Really.”

“I know, you’re a Power Ranger. But so was I. And I would have given anything for some friendly advice every now and then.”

Shelby frowned. “It must’ve been hard, being one of the first Rangers.”

“It was terrifying,” Kim admitted. She’d been trying so hard to be the Cool Big Sister, but admitting her own vulnerability was turning out to work better in bringing down Shelby’s walls. “But I was lucky. My best friend Trini was with me.” Kim leaned back in her chair. “I cried myself to sleep the night she moved to Switzerland.”

Shelby leaned forward, much more interested in this than any of Kim’s wild stories. “That’s when Aisha became a Ranger, right?”

“Yep. And she was as scared as I was—I think we both put our respective phone bills in the triple digits talking to each other about being Rangers. And school. And clothes. Sometimes all at the same time.” She took another sip of water. “Sometimes, we needed to vent about being a Ranger. Sometimes we needed reminders that there was a world outside of being a Ranger.”

Shelby let out a breadth. “I do not envy you, Kim. If I had to balance being a Ranger with AP Science, I probably would have tossed my Morpher out a window.”

Kim shook her head. “Shelby, I basically did.” It hadn’t quite been like that dramatic, but she had given up being a Ranger for her dream. “But you’re finding a way to balance your studies and your duties.” She’d had the sense to do a little research, before she’d contacted Shelby. “I guess I just thought maybe if we could hang out, and do normal stuff away from all the guys, it might make things a little easier for you.”

“Kim, it’s fine. I told you before—”

“No, it’s not.” Kim didn’t like admitting mistakes, but… “I was trying to think of things I liked doing as a teenager. It never occurred to me that your tastes might be different.”

Kim took out her purse to pay the bill (and leave her cheerful, long-haired waiter a big tip). “So, Shelby, what do you want to do for our girls’ night out?”

Shelby smiled, but it wasn’t just being polite this time. She was genuinely excited. “I have an idea.”

\--

“This one, right here?” Shelby grabbed Kim’s hand while dragging her to the Triceratops display. “Coolest dinosaur in the _world_.”

“They’re the ones the guy rides in the new film, right—kidding, kidding!” Although Kim’s knowledge of dinosaurs stopped at high school. Despite taking power from them early in her Ranger career, she’d never felt the need to learn more about them. But as Shelby continued, Kim realized that maybe it was time to change that.

\--

“So, this is the new tradition,” Kim said as she bought them ice cream after the museum trip. “Whenever you need someone to vent to—life, dinosaurs, Ranger stuff, whatever—call me, and we’ll geek out and have ice cream later.”

Shelby started eating her serving. “Sounds good—although I might vent to you more about trying to get into Angel Grove University than being a Ranger.”

“Oh, hey, I know a teacher there! I could probably get a good word in!”

Shelby’s eyes were huge. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” Kim nudged Shelby with her shoulder. “So, if I may ask, who do you vent to about being a Ranger?”

Shelby’s face was thoughtful. “Tyler. And Koda.”

“Koda was our waiter, right? The one who was talking about how the Bronto Burgers were even tastier than a mammoth?” Heh. That was a cute marketing tactic.

“Yep.” Shelby smirked. “And he should know, seeing how he’s a caveman.”

“Wait—get out!” 

“It’s true; when we get back you can ask him yourself.”

“So… are there any other cavemen on your team?”

“No. Not yet, at least. We already have a new Ranger.”

“Wait. Is this new Ranger evil?”

“No, just a little snobby.”

Kim breathed a sigh of relief. While she was all for helping out Pink Rangers becoming a tradition, some other parts of her Ranger career, not so much.


End file.
